Muck Farm Buyout Threatened

Farmers Who Haven't Agreed To Sell Their Land Could Thwart The Lake Apopka Cleanup.

September 25, 1997|By Craig Quintana of The Sentinel Staff

Despite agreeing to purchase two Lake Apopka muck farms Wednesday, state negotiators have not come to terms with several holdout farmers, which could hamper attempts to clean up Florida's most-polluted large lake.

A state-imposed deadline will pass next week, and an impasse over the price of several farms practically guarantees court battles, environmental officials and farmers said.

The $91 million buyout of pollution-causing muck farms was proposed last year in hopes of avoiding lengthy litigation and jump-starting the cleanup of the state's fourth-largest lake.

''You've got to draw the line somewhere,'' said Robert Christianson, lead negotiator for the St. Johns River Water Management District. ''We don't look forward to the struggles we're going to have . . . but we'll defend against whatever lawsuits are going to come.''

Holdout farmers complain the district is not offering the full value for their businesses.

In the 1996 buyout law, the Florida Legislature told the district to consider real estate value and a farm's income-generating potential to determine ''fair market value.'' The largest of the holdouts, 1,000-acre Long Farms, is suing the district in Putnam County, asking a judge to interpret the law.

''The district likes to negotiate below its appraised values,'' said Toby Prince Brigham, Long's attorney and a renowned expert in property law. ''In the long run, it won't save the district anything to attempt to get the property more cheaply than they should.''

Other holdouts say they may join the lawsuit, which was originally filed, dropped and then refiled this month during negotiations. Farmers say they cannot meet the pollution-reduction guidelines the district is mulling as part of the buyout law.

''It puts us in a precarious situation,'' said Jan Potter, president of Potter and Sons Inc. ''The bad thing about it is they're regulating us, and they're the buyer, and they're setting the price.''

Wednesday was the last meeting of the district's governing board before the deadline set by the Legislature to complete the buyout. Florida and the federal government amassed $91 million for the joint buyout, but about $8 million in unspent federal money will revert to the Treasury after the deadline passes.

On Wednesday, the board bought the 676-acre Clonts farm for $4.2 million and the 431-acre Stroup farm for $2 million. A vegetable processing house jointly operated by the Lust Farms and Long Farms was purchased for $1.3 million.

That leaves about 2,500 acres among six small farms and another packing house.

The remaining farmers, Christianson said, simply want more tax dollars than the district thinks it can responsibly pay.

For the full buyout of all 14,000 acres of muck farms to succeed, the remaining farmers would have to take the district's last offer - and the federal government would have to agree to provide its share of the funding again , Christianson said.

''There's still this glimmer of hope that things will work out,'' said Christianson, who added he has ''very little'' anticipation of that occurring.

Even the acres the district bought from four other farms could be in jeopardy if the district cannot work out an arrangement with holdout farmers.

''It's kind of hold-your-breath time,'' Christianson said. ''If we can't get satisfied under those parameters, we may pull out of the whole thing.''

The district can cancel any buys it has already made in mid-November if the holdouts refuse to swap land or if St. Johns scientists determine that a partial buyout will not clean up the lake.

To restore the lake, the district wants to reflood the farm land, which covers 15,000 acres of former lake bottom - muck - that was diked off and drained in the 1940s to create productive cropland. The 31,000-acre lake straddles the Orange-Lake county line.

Fertilizer-laden water runoff from the farms is primarily blamed for turning Lake Apopka's once-clear waters into a greenish, soupy mess. Reflooding and a cessation of farm pollution will cure the lake, the district argues.

Buyout negotiations have resulted in checkerboard ownership, with the district owning some lakeside farms and others inland.

Jim Thomas, president of Friends of Lake Apopka, said his group hoped for a full buyout but thinks farming and lake restoration can coexist.

''It could go any direction at this time,'' he said. ''We're certainly on pins and needles.''